Having high cholesterol comes with symptoms and health risks that can affect your daily life, so get into these seven foods to fight high cholesterol!
Whether you want to keep your cholesterol normal or just stay fit, you need to learn all about cholesterol first. It may be overlooked but it is actually an important part of your health.
So, here, you will learn what cholesterol is, what causes high cholesterol, the best foods to fight high cholesterol, and what you can do to maintain good cholesterol levels.
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Once you add these foods for high cholesterol to your diet, your life and health will change immensely!
What is cholesterol?
Accordingly, cholesterol is the fatty and waxy substance that’s in your blood. It helps build cells and make vitamins and hormones for your body.
There are two types of cholesterol: LDL, or the bad cholesterol, and HDL, or the good cholesterol. As you may expect, too much cholesterol is bad for you. It can also clog your arteries, which sustain your brain and heart.
When you have high cholesterol, you are also at a higher risk of getting heart problems. Aside from heart complications, you may also be at higher risk of a stroke, diabetes, and even hypertension.
Causes
You can get cholesterol from two sources: your liver and your food. Even if your liver makes the cholesterol, you can also get it from animal food like meat and dairy.
Here are some of the top causes of unhealthy fats:
- Fatty meats
- Cream
- Oil
- Deep-fried food
- Butter
- Commercial pastries
- Smoking
- Genetics
- Stress
- Too much alcohol
- Other medical conditions that cause high cholesterol
Therefore, if you eat, do, or experience something from the list above, you should check your cholesterol levels regularly. Remember to have a healthy diet and lifestyle that can help you fight high cholesterol!
Symptoms
Did you know that you may have high cholesterol and you may not know it? According to the British Heart Foundation, you may not experience any symptoms of high cholesterol.
However, when untreated, these are some of the signs that your cholesterol is high:
- Swelling in the knuckles and knees
- Bumps near the inner eye
- Pale color near the iris
Whenever you have a doctor’s appointment, check it to stay fit and healthy!
Top 7 Foods to Fight High Cholesterol
Do you want to improve your cholesterol levels? Here are the top seven foods that can help!
Oats
When it comes to whole grains that can lower cholesterol, oats are some of the best. Oats have beta-glucan, a soluble fiber that can lower cholesterol levels.
Nutrition Reviews found that oats can actually lower LDL by about 5%. These grains are rich in fiber, which is essential for overall health.
While they are some of the best foods for breakfast, you can also turn oats into other products. For instance, you can mill them into flour to add to your pastries or drinks.
There are also different types of oats you can use. Some of the variants you may find in grocery stores are steel-cut oats, rolled oats, oat bran, and instant oats, too.
No matter how you cook or use oats, they will surely have a positive effect on your cholesterol.
Beans
Despite the small size of beans, they can be a big part of why you have normal cholesterol. Beans belong to a plant food group known as “legumes”, where the plants bear fruits with seeds in a pot.
How healthy are beans? One cup has about 15 grams of fiber, and over half of the fiber is soluble fiber, which certainly helps lower bad cholesterol.
The Canadian Medical Association Journal shared that eating half a cup of legumes or beans daily can already do so much for you. In fact, there are so many types of beans you can add to your diet.
Some of the choices you might consider are kidney beans, lentils, black-eyed beans, pinto beans, and navy beans. Moreover, start with eating three cups of beans weekly and see how it affects your health.
Feel a whole lot better than you’ve ever been with the many kinds of beans you can enjoy!
Nuts
With the many health benefits of nuts, you can certainly expect that they’ll be good for your cholesterol. Even a handful of nuts in a day can improve your overall health.
WebMD mentioned that nuts have lots of fiber and nutrients with cholesterol-lowering potential. There are also plenty of kinds of nuts that you can add to your diet for the best results.
Peanuts, pistachios, macadamia nuts, cashew nuts, hazelnuts, almonds, Brazil nuts, pecans, and walnuts are some of the best nuts to help you achieve lower LDL levels.
Aside from snacking on these nuts, you can add them to your recipes. In fact, you can turn some nuts into condiments that you can use in the kitchen, too.
Now, you have another reason to go nuts over nuts!
Leafy greens
Like other vegetables, leafy greens have nutrients and health benefits to offer. Good news, one of the best health goals you can get from leafy greens is to lower your cholesterol.
These leafy greens have carotenoids that protect your heart from free radicals that can affect your arteries. Furthermore, Nutrition Research suggests eating leafy greens to help your body expel cholesterol.
Lutein in leafy greens can also lower your risk of heart disease while keeping your cholesterol normal. Start with kale, spinach, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, swiss chard, bok choy, and collard greens.
There are different ways you can enjoy leafy greens. You can boil, saute, stir fry, or steam them to enjoy their rich flavor. Then, cook them with meat, fish, and other vegetables to make the best meal yet.
With leafy greens in your diet, you can have better cholesterol levels!
Fatty fish
Fatty fish may not sound the healthiest, but it actually has lots of nutrients that can help with cholesterol. These seafoods are also rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which can increase good cholesterol.
The Mayo Clinic suggests eating about two servings of fatty fish in a week to get positive results. Eating fatty fish can also decrease triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood.
Which fatty fish would you like to try? You can always go for tuna, salmon, mackerel, herring, trout, anchovies, sardines, and pollock. As long as you eat them in moderation, you can expect that they will help with your cholesterol.
If you’re looking for ways to include fish in your meals, I suggest baking, steaming, deep frying, air frying, grilling, pan frying, or even poaching fish to get incredible flavor.
Fruits
No matter what diet you’re on, you always need fruits to complete your meals. Not only will these satisfy your cravings and please your sweet tooth, but they will also effectively lower your cholesterol.
According to Harvard Health, fruits contain pectin, a soluble fiber that lowers bad cholesterol. Some fruits also have nutrients that prevent cholesterol from entering the blood.
There are plenty of fruits to choose from, but which can help? Moreover, you can choose avocados, apples, grapes, strawberries, bananas, lemons, and limes.
Whether you eat them fresh or cook them, fruits will help lower your cholesterol levels. You can also prepare it for kids and adults to get into a cholesterol-friendly diet, too.
Tea
What better way to relish cholesterol-friendly foods than with cholesterol-friendly drinks, right? Tea recipes are definitely worth making because of how fantastic they work for your cholesterol.
The good thing about tea is its herbal and medicinal properties to improve your health. You can also expect many antioxidants to soothe, cure, and treat different health conditions.
For instance, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shared that green tea can reduce cholesterol levels well. You can also drink different kinds of tea like black, green, oolong, chamomile, lavender, and more.
You can buy tea bags, but you can also make tea from scratch. You can add cinnamon, ginger, and turmeric to strengthen its cholesterol-fighting potential.
Don’t spill the tea because what it can do for your cholesterol might amaze you!
Your diet plays an important part in keeping your cholesterol levels normal. Indeed, it’s a good thing you now have many food options to fight high cholesterol!
